Sunday, 12 June 2011

Aggression

Certain kinds of people. Specifically, people who express their problems physically on either animals or people that are smaller, weaker, in any sense, than they are.

Why? To feel in control? To feel strong because they've hurt something or someone?

But to take that out, to gain satisfaction from that feeling, on something that's tiny? Comparatively helpless? There's absolutely no honour in that. I realize few people think in terms of that kind of honour these days - but I spend half my life buried in Greek myths.

Or, to reference another culture, if you want the honour, you kill the giant, not the gerbil who happened to be near you at the time.

How can you feel good about your win when your opponent could be taken on by anyone? It didn't need to be you - they're small and weak, most people could beat them.

Bravo. You have overcome a pheasant. Or a 90 pound woman. Or a small boy. You brave, brave thing.

You want satisfaction? You want to feel truly strong? You take on the person that's fucking bigger than you. The guy who looks like he could crush anyone, the one who's a foot taller than you. And if you lose, well, at least you won't be conscious to feel humiliated. And at least you tried.

More people than many of us realize beat their wives, girlfriends (or boyfriends, let's be fair), because they had a bad day at work; or abuse their children, pets, or random animals for no reason other than they are feeling irritable - annoyed at work, annoyed at their car, annoyed because the bathroom flooded, or the dishes didn't get done on time.

Some people even post videos of these events on youtube. But most of us ignore them - or, because it's not happening to us, find it hilarious.

If these people are such an easy target, should we keep quiet about it? Change only happens when people speak up - when the reality of what's actually happening is brought home. Staying silent isn't going to help with anything.

And what reason would there possibly be to attack these public figures? They are, in their own way, easy targets as well - because their lives are out there and everyone has an opinion. And at least two of the people mentioned have dedicated much time and effort to social change.

Put simply, they aren't a problem, they aren't hurting anyone, there's no reason to try to tear them down in any way. People, on the other hand, who injure their spouses or children or animals because they need an outlet for their rage - now they're a problem.

That was a bit of snark on my part, and I'm sorry for getting things muddled up like this. All I meant was that it seemed as though you were making a fairly obvious statement, the sort of thing that should be taken for granted and didn't need pointing out. My suggestion that you tackle more controversial subjects was sarcastic.

It's sometimes hard to remember that not everyone on the internet is completely jaded and cynical, however, or that argument doesn't always need to exist for argument's sake. You were in the right and I apologize.